1.03: Fear The Walking Dead - The Dog

[SilentRoamer]

If the infection is not spread by open wounds then why did they chop off Herschel's leg?

Oh I believe infection is spread (via dead flesh bite) I just don't believe it to be a virus bite. We know everyone is already infected and Jenner in TWD showed us scans of the infected part in the brain. That being the only real concession Kirkman has made re: outbreak cause. It seems safe to assume it's airborne as it hits multiple states at once, and airplanes apparently.

I'm not saying cutting off a limb wouldn't be the best idea - clearly it would. I just believe the virulence of the bite kills you and then you turn anyway.

As a counterpoint though, walkers are never eaten by worms or plagued by flies so there may be some mileage in a totally dead entity (no bacteria at all) in which case it could be a virus point.

 

[REBerg]

I just gotta wonder: Does Kirkman have a master rule book specifying exactly how one becomes a zombie/walker, or is he as clueless as the rest of us, perfectly willing to let fans guess endlessly?

Maybe it's not a virus. Maybe traditional Haitian voodoo is to blame. Walmart's VUDU? White Walkers?

I've got to stop speculating! I'm playing right into Kirkman's hands! Curses!

 

[SilentRoamer]

REBerg you may find this interesting:

When Kirkman originally pitched the comic series he was knocked back a couple of times, a running theme seemed to be "no one cares about zombies anymore". So Kirkman told the publishers he pitched to that the virus was caused by aliens as a prelude to invasion. He got published, became extremely successful and then when the publisher asked he was like "Yeah right....lol"

I think Kirkman has stated the cause is undefined - we know as much as the characters ever know and the Jenner.CDC scene was as much as he was willing to go in terms of an explanation.

I would say the disease is an airborne virus which completely takes control of the brain centre - there would need to be some form of energy conversion so maybe some sort of internal fungus or something. Human antibodies seem strong enough to comat the virus, at least until death.

Than again I work in IT what the hell do I know about Zombie Virus' lol

 

[REBerg]

REBerg you may find this interesting:

When Kirkman originally pitched the comic series he was knocked back a couple of times, a running theme seemed to be "no one cares about zombies anymore". So Kirkman told the publishers he pitched to that the virus was caused by aliens as a prelude to invasion. He got published, became extremely successful and then when the publisher asked he was like "Yeah right....lol"

I think Kirkman has stated the cause is undefined - we know as much as the characters ever know and the Jenner.CDC scene was as much as he was willing to go in terms of an explanation.

Ye Gods! Aliens! Of course, why did I not think of that?

The zombies are being powered by energy beamed to them by invisible, geosynchronous space invader satellites. Brains are the energy receptors. Destroy the receptor, destroy the zombie.

Makes perfect sense. Beautiful in its simplicity.

That explains why the zombies have no need for digestive systems, muscles or anything else normally associated with human locomotion. It even accounts for those godawful noises they make. Brain-bathing radiation must smart a little.

I shall speculate no more. Thank you, SilentRoamer. I am forever in your debt.

Wait! What if it's not aliens? I saw that Iron Sky documentary. What if the Moon Nazis are the real zombie puppetmasters?

Oh, no! Here I go again...

 

[SilentRoamer]

REBerg your thinking too big.

What if the aliens are actually little aliens living in the brain and pulling the strings. Just like the Arqullians in MiB.

Joking aside I long since stopped trying to attribute a cause or even to note consistencies. Remember the zombie that was smashing a window with a rock in TWD Season 2? When Shane and Otis were after medicine. Lol

Also there have been tales about a longheaded green alien who frequents SFF forums.... just sayin'

 

[REBerg]

REBerg your thinking too big.

What if the aliens are actually little aliens living in the brain and pulling the strings. Just like the Arqullians in MiB.

Joking aside I long since stopped trying to attribute a cause or even to note consistencies. Remember the zombie that was smashing a window with a rock in TWD Season 2? When Shane and Otis were after medicine. Lol

Also there have been tales about a longheaded green alien who frequents SFF forums.... just sayin'

Smaller! Of course! Why did I not think of that?

The zombies are being powered by nanites, evil, Moon Nazi nanites, spread throughout the globe by invisible zeppelin crop dusters to be ingested by humans. Brains are the nanite headquarters. Destroy the headquarters, destroy the zombie -- but not the nanites.

They exit the ruined braincase and continue to function, viruslike, waiting to be inhaled by the next victim, programmed to self-destruct only after the last human on earth has been destroyed.

Makes perfect sense. Beautiful in its simplicity.

OK. I've got it. The ultimate explanation. I will join you and cease to ponder zombie apocalypse causes and inconsistencies.

Longheaded, green alien, you say? C'mon! Let's get real. What do you IT guys smoke between help desk calls, anyway?

 

[Judderman]

What an excellent episode. I loved it, and thought it was up there with some of the stronger Walking Dead episodes. We have been waiting to see how chaos descends and the armed forces react.
I do wonder why some of the survivors seen in Walking Dead are not military hold up somewhere, as here we see they know to shoot zombies in the head. Perhaps they are just forced to go in to too much conflict with them. I'm not sure clearing out a suburban area helps them much either. I suppose it could be they already cleared out the centre (or thought they did) but very unlikely. At least wherever the power problem occurred was resolved for the moment.

By the way The Strain season 2 of that is pretty good for watching about when a city starts breaking down into chaos due to "a virus". But it is much more tongue in cheek.

 

[Dave]

I do wonder why some of the survivors seen in Walking Dead are not military hold up somewhere, as here we see they know to shoot zombies in the head.

Or, they are all holed up in another country where the disease didn't reach, or where they have managed to clean out all the Zombies - some very small island that can be defended - and maybe they hope to return again someday, as in "Twenty Eight Weeks Later." This is a world-wide outbreak and yet we have only seen a very limited geographical area until this series. Maybe we will actually see more of the world in this series.